inois Central Railroad brought hundreds on free
transportation with the understanding that the men would enter the
employ of the company. The radical negro newspapers published
here urged negroes to leave the South and promised employment and
protection. It is indeed little wonder that Chicago received so great
a number.

The most favorable aspect of their condition in their new home is
their opportunity to earn money. Coming from the South, where they
were accustomed to work for a few cents a day or a few dollars a week,
to an industrial center where they can now earn as much in an hour
or a day, they have the feeling that this city is really the land
overflowing with milk and honey. In the occupations in which they are
now employed, many of them are engaged at skilled labor, receiving the
same and, in some cases, greater compensation than was paid white men
in such positions prior to the outbreak of the war. Talking with a
number of them the investigator obtained such information as, that men
were working at the Wilson Packing House and receiving $3 a day; at
the Marks Manufacturing Company for $3.75; as lumber stackers at $4 a
day, at one of the rolling mills for $25 a week, and on the railroads
at $125 a month. The large majority of these migrants are engaged in
the packing houses of Chicago where they are employed to do all
sorts of skilled and unskilled labor with the corresponding
compensation.[110]

It was soon discovered that the needs of the migrants could not all be
supplied by money. Something had to be done for their social welfare.
Various agencies assisted in caring for the needs of the 25,000 or
more negro migrants who, it is estimated, have come to Chicago within
three years. The Chicago Renting Agents' Association appointed a
special committee to study the problems of housing them and to confer
with leaders in civic organization and with representative negroes.
The Cook County Association considered the question of appointing
some one to do Sunday School work exclusively among the newcomers.
The Housing Committee of the Chicago Women's Club arranged for
an intensive survey of housing conditions. The negroes themselves
organized to help the recently arrived members of the race. Negro
ministers, lawyers, physicians and social workers cooperated in
handling the problem through churches, Sunday Schools and in other
ways.[111]

The negroes residing in Chicago, who came from particular States in
the Sou